


All This For A Box of Cereal

by MsLane



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Based on a Tumblr Post, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Meet-Cute, Person of Interest AU, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 17:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3819391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsLane/pseuds/MsLane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'we’re both at the grocery store at 3 am and you offered to arm wrestle me for the last box of cereal' AU</p><p>'Sameen studies her quietly, her dark eyes taking in her wavy brown hair, and the tired eyes, before traveling down her form to stop at her flats.<br/>The other woman studies Sameen as well, taking in the loosened ponytail and hospital scrubs, which Sameen had paired with her favorite pair of sneakers.<br/>Neither woman says anything, both of them just standing there taking in the situation.<br/>Sameen rolls her eyes and turns away from the box to face the woman more fully, "I will arm wrestle you for this box of cereal."'</p>
            </blockquote>





	All This For A Box of Cereal

Sameen Shaw is absolutely dead on her feet.

Pulling a double shift at the hospital can do that to a person.

Even so, she still manages to gather some energy to drag herself to the all night grocery store that's on her way home.

'At 3 fucking a.m.' she thinks to herself as she parks her car in the nearly deserted lot and makes her way into the brightly lit store.

It's quiet once she's through the doors and she's not surprised, seeing as any normal person would be at home asleep at this time.

She sluggishly makes her way down the aisles until she finally stops in front of the breakfast cereal.

The _one_ box of cereal on the otherwise empty shelves.

And she isn't alone.

Another woman is also standing in front of the cereal, having walked down from the other end of the aisle.

Sameen studies her quietly, her dark eyes taking in her wavy brown hair, and the tired eyes, before traveling down her form to stop at her flats.

The other woman, in turn, studies Sameen as well, taking in the loosened ponytail and hospital scrubs, which Sameen had paired with her favorite pair of sneakers.

Neither woman says anything, both of them just standing there taking in the situation.

Sameen rolls her eyes and turns away from the lone box on the shelf to face the woman more fully, "I _will_ arm wrestle you for this box of cereal."

The other woman's eyebrow quirks and her lips upturn in a little grin, "You want to...arm wrestle for the cereal?"

Sameen nods, absolutely serious about it, "That's what I said."

The woman's eyes travel down Sameen's form once again before meeting her eyes, "I see that you take the prospect of not getting this box of cereal very seriously."

"Only because it's the last one, and it's the only thing I want to eat after a horrible day at work."

Sameen rolls her eyes, at herself this time, for offering even this small piece of information about herself; she's not one that would usually share things.

The woman hums, "I suppose taking it this seriously makes sense then. Especially seeing as I can relate. I had a bad day too and I'm in need of some cheering up."

Sameen nods and rolls up her sleeves, a determined look on her face as she claps her hands once, "Right. So let's do this."

The amusement showing on the other woman's face isn't lost on Sameen, but it makes no difference to her personally, since she's going to be the one walking away with the cereal.

"Let's go find ourselves a surface to wrestle on then." The other woman says as they both set off down the aisle, "I'm Root by the way. I don't know the proper etiquette when it comes to random arm wrestling propositions, but I suppose knowing the name of the person you're about to wrestle is the bare minimum requirement? Do we exchange insurance information too, in case of any damage rendered?"

Sameen smirks, "Don’t worry, it'll be painless…for the most part. And it should be over quickly." She waits for a beat before adding on, "Shaw. I go by Shaw."

No need for first names and pleasantries, Sameen is just trying to get her box of cereal goodness.

They make it to the customer service counter and Root moves so that she's standing behind the desk and puts her arm up onto the table and waits for Sameen, with an amused gleam in her eyes.

"I never thought I'd ever be in a situation where I'd have to arm wrestle for food." Root says conversationally as she watches Sameen place her elbow on the table, after which she takes a hold of Root's hand securely.

Sameen snorts and shrugs easily, eyes darting away from their joined hands to Root's eyes, "It's more civil than arguing, or even just grabbing the box and dashing away."

Root nods solemnly, "Oh yes. I'm so glad you didn't decide on either of those options. This is _much_ more fun."

Rolling her shoulders to loosen up, Sameen furrows her brow slightly before glancing back to their clasped hands before once again locking her gaze onto Root's face, "Alright, ready?"

Root smiles at her and nods once, "Ready."

"On the count of three. One."

Grinning, Root chimes in, "Two."

" _Three_." They say together.

In Sameen's defense, she really was dead on her feet. After four surgeries and a double shift, with barely any food in her system and even less sleep, any person would be.

Despite this, she still thought she could take the svelte woman.

"Oh don't look so shocked Shaw. Did you really think I was so weak?"

Sameen shakes her head, still a little surprised that she just lost to this woman. The woman that looks like she could be snapped in half if the wind blew at her the wrong way.

Root bites her lip and tilts her head as she watches the look of awe play across Sameen's face.

"It just…I'm just tired and really off my game. It means nothing. Best two out of three?" Sameen says, finally shaking out of her reverie.

Root shakes her head, "That wasn't the deal sweetie. I won the wrestling match, so I get the box of cereal. Fair's fair."

Sameen huffs, but nods gruffly, "Fine. Whatever. Congratulations on winning against a doctor who's completely drained and at the end of their rope."

Root grins as she steps around the counter and walks past Sameen who is starting to seethe.

"I'm not going to just give up my winnings because you're trying to make me feel guilty."

Sighing, Sameen cuts the act and huffs as she folds her arms across her chest, "Worth a shot. Go enjoy your damn cereal."

Root smiles at her brightly before flouncing past Sameen and back towards the cereal box that they had left.

Sameen furrows her brow as she watches the woman breeze away, silently berating herself for underestimating the other woman.

Dropping her arms down to her sides, Sameen then tilts her head back and looks up at the ceiling and mutters, "Good job there Shaw. Real good job." 

"You know…I could always share this with you? I do feel kind of bad that I won this, and it looks like I'm not the only one in need of a pick me up."

Sameen straightens out and looks at Root, who has walked back to her, now clutching the box of cereal in her hand, "You'd share with me?"

Root nods her head and gives her a tiny grin as she shrugs, "I kind of was already planning on sharing the box, I'd been tossing the idea around in my head, before you came up with the arm wrestling idea."

Quirking an eyebrow, Sameen asks, "And what made you think that you'd have been able to be the one making that decision? How'd you know I wouldn't have just been a total bitch and snatched it away from you before you even had a chance to blink? And especially before even winning the match?"

Root just smiles, her eyes sparkling with mischief, "I had no doubt that I'd be the one in possession of the box. Regardless of the series of events."

"That's pretty bold thinking really." Sameen says, thoroughly amused by this person.

Root says nothing, and instead just stands there waiting patiently for Shaw to make her decision.

Finally, Sameen acquiesces, with a tiny quirk of her lips, "I think I'd really like to share the cereal with you."

Root, having been shifting her weight from foot to foot finally stops and her eyes widen slightly, "Wonderful! Okay great, let's just grab some milk, because I'm almost certain the carton I have back home is expired."

Sameen says nothing but she lifts her eyebrow, silently following Root to the refrigerators as she pulls out a milk carton. Whole milk; nice.

At the checkout, Sameen pulls out some crumpled bills and hands them to Root, who is about to protest when Sameen cuts her off, insisting, "If we're going to share this, I want to contribute to the acquirement of these items."

Root laughs lightly, caught off guard, "I suppose there are worse things."

They walk out of the grocery store and Sameen sees that the only car in the parking lot is her own, "Did you walk here?"

Root nods her head, one of her hands holding the bag with their purchases, the other lifting to push back some tendrils of hair that whip around her face in the cool night breeze, "Yup...Well, no, I had a cab drop me off here..."

At Root's pause, Sameen cuts in and not unkindly says, "That's pretty dangerous at this time of night; who knows what kind of trouble you can get yourself into."

Root bites her lip as she grins at Sameen, "Like participating in a impromptu wrestling match."

Sameen smiles and shrugs, "Touché. Let me give you a lift. We'll have breakfast and then I'll be on my way."

Grinning slyly, Root tilts her head as she says, "Alright, sounds good."

Sameen watches as she slowly saunters closer to her before the both of them move in tandem towards Sameen's car.

It's quiet for the most part until they're both settled into the vehicle, "You know, I don’t normally do this sort of thing."

Sameen raises an eyebrow, remaining silent as she pulls out of the parking space and out onto the road.

Root is turned so she's facing Sameen as she continues to talk, "Bring home practical strangers. I mean, one can never be sure what sort of people I'd end up bringing with me."

Smirking, Sameen nods her head at her, "Right, exactly. They could be really messed up people who really want some cereal and would do anything to have it. Like start a wrestling match."

Root chuckles as she nods her head, "Right. And who knows what may come of us after that."

The rest of the car ride is pretty silent, save for Root giving Sameen instructions on where to go every now and then.

They make it to Root's apartment building and Sameen kills the ignition and pockets the keys before following Root up the stairs to the front of the building, then up the elevator to her house.

Kicking off her shoes at the door, Sameen is then following Root to the kitchen, watching as she pulls down two bowls and two spoons.

Pouring herself out some of the cereal, Root then hands over the box, "Help yourself."

Sameen grins as she dumps out a hefty bowl full and then follows it quickly with the milk.

Root watches with some amusement, carefully eating spoonful after spoonful of her own bowl of cereal.

Xoxoxo

"You know…I don't think I would have shared the box with you, if I had won." Sameen says some time later, when they've polished off a couple of bowls full of cereal each.

Root chuckles as she nods her head, "I believe that. But don’t worry, we needn’t fret over that since that didn’t happen."

Sameen snorts, "If I wasn’t so tired-"

"I know. You totally would have kicked my butt." Root says teasingly, getting up and placing the dirty bowls into the sink.

"Damn right I would have. Anyway…" She smirks as she raises an eyebrow slightly, "I think I'm going to take my leave now. Thanks for dinner."

Root smiles at her, "No problem. I think I enjoyed this a lot more than I would have enjoyed having another meal alone."

Nodding her head, Sameen shrugs nonchalantly and says, "Yeah, I get that. It was kinda alright having some company around."

Root grins as she leads Sameen out of her apartment, very much happy with how the night has turned out.

"Seriously though. Thanks for the food." Sameen says once she's out the door, turning so that she's facing Root when she says this.

"You're more than welcome Doc. Thanks for not being a _total_ weirdo." Root says, a smile on her face as she leans against the door.

With a smile playing at her lips, Sameen shrugs, "Plenty of time to rectify that." She then pauses, taking a moment to just look at the woman in front of her, before saying, "Well…good night then."

Root smiles in kind, her eyes gazing into Sameen's, "Good night."


End file.
